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Armenian Genocide: "We Cannot Forget"

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  • Armenian Genocide: "We Cannot Forget"

    ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: "WE CANNOT FORGET"

    The Collegian CSUFresno
    Feb 26 2015

    Posted by: Megan Ginise Feb 26, 2015

    Dr. Sergio La Porta, professor in the armenian studies program,
    concluded this years' Fresno State Talks last night in the Satellite
    Student Union, with a lecture on the importance and relevance of the
    Armenian Genocide and how it shaped world civilization today.

    Entitled "Who Cares? Genocide, Historical Memory, and Moral
    Responsibility," La Porta's lecture emerged from his own personal
    history with Armenian studies as a graduate of Harvard University.

    Lucy Garayan, a senior psychology student, joked that although La
    Porta's last name did not end in a "ian" representative of the Armenian
    heritage, his expertise and love of the field and the people inspired
    his students through his lectures and knowledge to learn more about
    the culture.

    "At the time, I thought Armenian role in history was minute," Garayan
    said. "Armenia today is the size of Maryland, however, it was in Dr.

    La Porta's class that I learned about a rich and powerful history. I
    felt it was my duty to learn about my own culture and history, but
    in fact it is the duty of all Armenians to study our history and
    language. It is through knowledge that we can keep our traditions
    alive."

    La Porta began his lecture with an introduction into the history of
    the Armenian Genocide, which began on April 24, 1915, when the Young
    Turk regime of the Ottoman Empire arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals
    who were soon murdered after their seizure.

    In the next four months, La Porta said, the regime murdered 800,000
    Armenian citizens of the empire, at a rate of 200,000 people a month,
    comparable to the Rwandan Genocide. By 1923, approximately 1.5 million
    people had been murdered by the Young Turk forces, and over 500,000
    people displaced.

    "Now, 100 years later, this crime against humanity, this genocide,
    remains unrecognized by the Republic of Turkey," La Porta said. It's
    historical reality is consistently questioned, not only insulting
    the memory of millions of people, but also denying them historical
    justice and their inherent human dignity."

    La Porta spoke about local events commemorating the Armenian Genocide,
    including the memorial currently being built on campus set to be
    revealed on April 23 and coordinated with the Republic of Armenia.

    Other local events include the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee,
    a philharmonic concert April 25, the current art exhibit at Fresno
    Art Museum, and a town hall meeting on March 16.

    La Porta noted the similarity of the Armenian Genocide to that of
    the Holocaust during World War II. He explained that there was
    a specific organization employed for the mass extermination of
    Armenians, legalizing and putting into effect laws which authorized
    the deportation of Armenians and seizure of their property-millions
    of acres of land and possessions, which La Porta said led to part of
    the modern economic basis of Turkey today.

    "We realize that this is not a random set of killings, but an organized
    attempt to eliminate a portion of the population," La Porta said.

    He spoke of the horrors of the genocide, in which modern technology
    such as telegraphs and railways were used. Armenians were transported
    in packed cars where they often suffocated to death.

    "To add insult to injury they were often forced to buy their ticket
    first, then packed into these cars, and often the train would stop
    in the desert and have them taken out and murdered," he said.

    To this day, La Porta says, the Armenian Genocide fails to be
    recognized by the Republic of Turkey.

    "The argument that they make was that many Turks died during World
    War I, as if this negates the atrocities that occurred," La Porta said.

    "Yes, a lot of Turks did die in World War I, and a lot of Armenians
    died as well. The difference was a lot of Turks died fighting in
    World War I, a lot of Armenians died because they were executed."

    But La Porta said that from the destruction, there is still an
    opportunity to show a better side of human nature through the
    internationalization of the Armenian Genocide. Through American
    aid and relief, La Porta called this one of the greatest moments in
    american history.

    "People often say that's not that important, nobody remembers it,
    nobody knew about it. This is completely untrue. People knew about
    the Armenian Genocide very well. The New York Times had over 200
    articles on the Armenian Genocide between 1915 and 1922."

    According to La Porta, between 1916 and 1930, The American Committee
    for Relief in the Near East (today known as the Near Eastern Relief
    Fund) raised 116 million dollars in relief aid for Armenians and
    others similarly affected, (equivalent to 1.5. billion dollars today.)
    La Porta said that this was the largest relief effort ever launched
    in the United States.

    The effects of the Armenian Genocide, La Porta said, are still very
    alive and present today.

    "It destroyed a vital sector of Armenia, also caused the Armenian
    diaspora, part of the economic basis for the economy of Turkey, and
    allowed the Republic of Turkey to form its modern capital. We see that
    this process of nationalism and of purity beginning with the Armenian
    Genocide. We can chart its progress in the early 20th century."

    He says that remembrance may be crucial in honoring those that
    were lost.

    "Never again, Armenians will never again allow themselves to be
    executed in the way that happened in 1915. The Armenian Genocide
    continues to penetrate current political conflicts in the middle east."

    Amongst many stories of the survivors, La Porta says there is no
    debate about the reality of the Armenian genocide, and the reality
    of who was responsible.

    "The genocide is a historical fact," La Porta said. "It's important to
    remember that they didn't just disappear. They didn't just die. They
    were killed by an agent, and that agent was the Ottoman Turkish regime
    of the Young Turks. This moral distancing is understandable because
    it's uncomfortable to think that people could do this to one another.

    Yet we need to be honest about it. We need to say who did it. We
    need to be clear about who did it to overcome the trauma of the
    genocide itself."

    La Porta concluded his lecture by demonstrating the power of memory.

    "Actually remembering is not stopping us from going forward," he said.

    "It's the catalyst that allows us to engage in acts of humanity."

    http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2015/02/26/armenian-genocide-we-cannot-forget/

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